Did you fall for a flashy sales pitch and buy high-priced car insurance? Trust us, many consumers are feeling buyer’s remorse and feel like there’s no way out.
Drivers have so many auto insurance companies to pick from, and although it’s a good thing to have a choice, lots of choices makes it harder to get the best deal.
The purpose of this article is to tell you how car insurance quotes work and some tricks to saving. If you currently have a car insurance policy, you stand a good chance to be able to save some money using these techniques. Although Mississippi car owners must know how the larger insurance companies compete online and take advantage of how the system works.
Finding Car Insurance in Mccomb
Most major insurance companies allow you to get coverage price quotes on the web. Obtaining pricing doesn’t take a lot of time as you just type in the coverages you want as requested by the quote form. Once you submit the form, their rating system pulls your driving record and credit report and returns a price quote. Online quotes streamlines rate comparisons, but having to visit each company’s website and repetitively complete many quote forms is repetitive and time-consuming. But it is imperative to do this in order to find a better rate.
A more efficient way to find cheaper rates uses one simple form to return rates from several companies at one time. It saves time, reduces the work, and makes online price comparison much more efficient. After sending the form, it is quoted and you can select any or none of the returned quotes.
If the quotes result in lower rates, it’s easy to complete the application and buy the new coverage. It can be completed in less than 10 minutes and can result in significant savings.
To get comparison pricing now, click here to open in new window and begin entering your coverage information. If you currently have coverage, we recommend you input the insurance coverages exactly as shown on your declarations page. This ensures you will have an apples-to-apples comparison using the same coverage and limits.
Lower rates by qualifying for discounts
The price of auto insurance can be rather high, but you can get discounts that you may not even be aware of. Most are applied at the time of purchase, but a few need to be asked for before you will receive the discount.
- Driver Safety – Taking a course in driver safety can save you 5% or more and easily recoup the cost of the course.
- New Car Discount – Insuring a new car can save up to 30% compared to insuring an older model.
- Multiple Policy Discount – If you insure your home and vehicles with one company you will save 10% to 20% off each policy.
- Accident Free – Good drivers with no accidents pay much less compared to accident-prone drivers.
- Early Signing – Some insurance companies reward drivers for switching to them prior to your current policy expiring. This can save 10% or more.
- Club Memberships – Participating in a qualifying organization is a good way to get lower rates on car insurance.
- Seat Belt Usage – Drivers who require all occupants to buckle their seat belts could save 15% off your PIP or medical payments premium.
- Drive Less and Save – Driving fewer miles could qualify for a substantially lower rate.
- Passive Restraint Discount – Vehicles equipped with air bags and/or automatic seat belt systems can get savings of 20% or more.
- Auto/Life Discount – Select insurance companies reward you with better rates if you take out life insurance from them.
Keep in mind that most discount credits are not given to all coverage premiums. Most only apply to the cost of specific coverages such as comprehensive or collision. Just because you may think adding up those discounts means a free policy, car insurance companies aren’t that generous. But all discounts will bring down the amount you have to pay.
To choose insurers with the best car insurance discounts in Mississippi, click this link.
Learn How to Lower your Rates
Smart consumers have a good feel for the rating factors that come into play when calculating car insurance rates. Understanding what controls the rates you pay helps enable you to make changes that will entitle you to lower car insurance prices.
The list below includes some of the factors that factor into prices.
- Discounts for married couples – Being married can get you a discount on your policy. It means you’re more mature and responsible and statistics show married drivers get in fewer accidents.
- Your location affects your rates – Choosing to live in a small town can be a good thing when it comes to car insurance. Fewer drivers means fewer accidents. Drivers in populated Mississippi areas have to deal with much more traffic to deal with and a longer drive to work. More time on the road translates into higher accident risk.
- Save money with special equipment – Owning a car with an alarm system can help lower your rates. Anti-theft devices like vehicle immobilizer systems, General Motors OnStar and LoJack tracking systems can help prevent your vehicle from being stolen.
- Your job and insurance rates – Occupations such as judges, executives and accountants have higher rates than average due to high stress and long work hours. On the flip side, occupations like scientists, athletes and retirees get better rates.
- High crash test scores lower rates – Cars with high safety ratings are cheaper to insure. The safest vehicles result in less severe injuries and better occupant protection means less money paid by your insurance company passed on to you as lower rates.
- Liability coverage is peace of mind – Your policy’s liability coverage will protect you if ever a court rules you are at fault for causing damage or personal injury in an accident. Liability insurance provides for a legal defense which can cost thousands of dollars. This coverage is very inexpensive as compared to coverage for physical damage, so do not skimp.
- Careful drivers pay lower rates – Just one citation can bump up the cost twenty percent or more. Drivers who don’t get tickets tend to pay less for car insurance compared to drivers with tickets. Drivers who have flagrant citations like DUI or reckless driving may need to file a SR-22 with the DMV in their state in order to keep their license.
Can switching companies really save?
Progressive, Geico, Allstate and State Farm constantly bombard you with ads in print and on television. All the companies make the same claim of big savings if you switch your policy. How can each company make almost identical claims?
Insurance companies are able to cherry pick for the right customer that is profitable for them. An example of a preferred risk could be over the age of 50, owns a home, and has a short commute. Any driver that hits that “sweet spot” gets the lowest rates and most likely will save a lot of money.
Potential customers who fall outside the “perfect” profile will be quoted a more expensive rate which leads to business not being written. The ad wording is “customers that switch” not “people who quote” save that kind of money. This is how companies can advertise the savings.
This emphasizes why you need to compare as many rates as you can. It’s impossible to know the company that will give you the biggest savings.
Online plus local equals savings
Budget-conscious car insurance is attainable online and with local Mccomb insurance agents, and you need to comparison shop both to have the best chance of lowering rates. Some companies do not offer online price quotes and these small, regional companies work with independent agents.
When buying insurance coverage, you should never buy lower coverage limits just to save a few bucks. There have been many situations where an insured dropped full coverage to discover at claim time that a couple dollars of savings turned into a financial nightmare. Your aim should be to purchase plenty of coverage for the lowest price while not skimping on critical coverages.
Additional car insurance information is available on the website for the Mississippi Insurance Department found here. Visitors are able to read industry bulletins, find disaster information, view agent and company licensing information, and find a variety of consumer forms.